Our websites may use cookies to personalize and enhance your experience. By continuing without changing your cookie settings, you agree to this collection. For more information, please see our University Websites Privacy Notice.

Study of Cognitive Development in Deaf Children Revisits Longstanding Debate

In deaf children, excluding sign language in favor of auditory implants may be a risky approach for their cognitive development. (iStock Photo)

A team of researchers at the University of Connecticut is reexamining a decades-long debate as to whether deaf children should learn sign language to maximize their potential for optimal development.

Research has shown that children born deaf frequently exhibit learning deficits and as a result, often underperform in school. Yet research on deaf children has also found children from signing families develop language, cognition and literacy on normal timetables.

One widespread view is that learning deficits stem from lack of auditory experience. And, with the advent of universal newborn hearing screening and improved technologies such as cochlear implants – surgically implanted devices that provide access to sound – more and more deaf children are relying on spoken language from an early age.

While some herald this as a victory, others point to the variability in spoken language outcomes as evidence that excluding sign language may be a risky approach.

“The problem is that we can’t reliably predict who’s going to succeed with the spoken-language approach, and who isn’t,” said Matthew Hall, postdoctoral fellow and the lead researcher. “By the time it’s clear that a child’s spoken language proficiency hasn’t supported healthy development across the board, it may be too late for that child to master sign language.”

Each part of the study will involve two participant groups of congenitally deaf children between the ages of 5 and 12: 40 native signers (those introduced to sign language since birth) and 40 cochlear implant users who have never been exposed to sign language.

If Hall and fellow researcher Diane Lillo-Martin, distinguished professor of linguistics at UConn, find that early exposure to sign language can forestall cognitive issues in deaf children, then that would demonstrate that auditory experience is not necessary for healthy cognitive development. The researchers suspect that early exposure to sign language may be what allows these children to develop normally; direct confirmation of that hypothesis will require intervention studies, which they hope to carry out in the future.

“This work is especially meaningful because it has important theoretical implications but it also has the potential to change practices that affect the lives of deaf children and their families,” says Lillo-Martin

But the UConn research team also acknowledges practical challenges surrounding that conclusion. Children born deaf are most often born into non-signing households. Only about 10 percent of congenitally deaf children are born into homes in which linguistic input is available from birth through sign language. As such, many families would need to learn the new language.

The researchers are currently enrolling study participants through schools and organizations serving deaf and hard-of-hearing children throughout the country as well as established connections between UConn and Gallaudet University, a public university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing located in Washington, D.C.

Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the project is expected to be completed by fall 2016.

Join us for a talk by Gina Barreca,2018 UCONN BOARD OF TRUSTEESDISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH

All great works of fiction, poetry and dramaâas well as texts forming mythologies, religions, national epics to heroic sagasâhave loneliness at the heart of their narrative. From Persephone to Peter Pan, from âFrankensteinâ to âFrozen,â the stories we pass along are saturated with unwilling isolation.âOnly around half of Americans say they have meaningful, daily face-to-face social interactions,â according to a 2017 study. A former U.S. Surgeon General argues that âWe live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s.â We need more than social media. We need social contact. We need community. How can we break through the loneliness barrier? Being alone when in need of companionship is more than sad; itâs an epidemic.Chronic loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. We need to change our national story and, often, our personal ones as well.Even the concept of the âlone wolfâ is a myth. Wolves hunt in packs.

Reception to follow.

For more information about this event, or if you are an individual who requires special accommodation to participate, please contact the CLAS Deanâs Office at (860) 486-2713.

A liberal arts and sciences degree prepares students with the tools they need to excel across a wide range of careers. Given the number of options available to you, it can be overwhelming to narrow down career choices. Attending CLAS Career Night will provide you exposure to career opportunities for CLAS students.

This semesterâs focus will be on research-based careers. During this event you will engage with CLAS alumni, learn about various occupations, and gain insight about how to best prepare for your future career.

The McNair Scholars Program and the Office of Undergraduate Research invite you to join us for a brown bag research seminar.

Birds, Bacteria, and Bioinformatics: Why Evolutionary Biology is the Best

Sarah Hird, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology

This series is open to all undergraduate and graduate students, and is designed especially for students conducting (or interested in conducting) STEM research. These seminars are opportunities to learn about research being pursued around campus, to talk with faculty about their path into research, and to ask questions about getting involved in research.

About CLAS

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the academic core of learning and research at UConn. We are committed to the full spectrum of academics across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. We give students a liberal arts and sciences education that empowers them with broad knowledge, transferable skills, and an ability to think critically about important issues across a variety of disciplines.